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http://m.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/telltal ... est-plans/

About time. Personally I'm glad. Telltale would never have done it justice anyway what with them abandoning whatever "adventure" they may have had left in them.

Perhaps this would mean that the IP can be turned over to someone that could do it justice. I agree, I was never happy about it being Telltale that got the license.

There's more to the story. Here's another article on the subject.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/3/4180132 ... -no-longer

According to Digital Trends, Replay games president Paul Trowe, who successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign for a remake of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, wanted to remake King's Quest himself by licensing the franchise from Activision. However, he said Activision was taking back the rights to King's Quest "because we're going to do it ourselves."

Feeling uneasy yet?

Rudy wrote: Feeling uneasy yet?

Definitely. The last sentence is just scary.

That last sentence is nothing new. Everyone who's approached ActiVision in the passed year has gotten that response. I'm still happier that Telltale's all-story/QTE game model isn't going anywhere near it anymore. At least with ActiVision we have no idea what their plans are. With Telltale we all knew what we were going to get. Crap. With ActiVision...well...maybe it'll be crap...then again, maybe it won't. Then again maybe they'll just sit on it. That's two extra more favourable possibilities than Telltale had going for it.

Where is that "Like" button when you need it? I am with you, MI. I saw nothing good coming out of Telltale. As much as I would love a new KQ, I would rather it not be made than have it badly done. I really doubt that Activision would do it themselves. I think that all they really want to do is to overcharge for the rights. Anyone else who does it and bungles it will give us no worse than what I am convinced that Telltale would have given us.

I think TellTale lost their direction and focus when they went the QTE route.

The reason TellTale used QTE a lot in some previous games (like Jurassic Park and The Walking Dead) is because those games are based on a movie and a TV show. They probably thought they were recreating a cinematic experience, which they were, but they forgot the actual gameplay aspect.

I think don't KQ wouldn't have had much, if any, QTE, to be honest. Their Monkey Island and Sam & Max games were point-and-click, not QTE. Why? Probably because those games were, well... based on games, not movies or TV shows.

Regardless of QTE, I'm not sure TellTale could've created a KQ that would've resonated with fans. Still... I'd have been interested in knowing what their plans were.

As for Activision handling the IP itself, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic. Just because they say they're handling it doesn't mean they're necessarily doing it in-house. They probably mean they'll choose the developer.

Who knows, based on how well the Jane Jensen's GK1 remake sells and her overall relationship with Activision, they might tap her to do it. She does have experience with the series, so it's definitely a possibility.

DeadPoolX wrote:Who knows, based on how well the Jane Jensen's GK1 remake sells and her overall relationship with Activision, they might tap her to do it. She does have experience with the series, so it's definitely a possibility.

That would come with a double built fan base. I am not sure she would want to do it, though. Of course, Activision could always make it a prerequisite for rights to GK, though I doubt that they would have any idea of her connection to KQ.

KQ by Telltale may not have had QTE but the fact remains that Telltale is a developer that makes story games about characters in a more cinematic way. They're not interested in puzzles. They've stated as much.

MusicallyInspired wrote:KQ by Telltale may not have had QTE but the fact remains that Telltale is a developer that makes story games about characters in a more cinematic way. They're not interested in puzzles. They've stated as much.

That's not a bad thing if you consider how completely ludicrous and illogical most Adventure game puzzles were.

DeadPoolX wrote:

MusicallyInspired wrote:KQ by Telltale may not have had QTE but the fact remains that Telltale is a developer that makes story games about characters in a more cinematic way. They're not interested in puzzles. They've stated as much.

That's not a bad thing if you consider how completely ludicrous and illogical most Adventure game puzzles were.

I also see it as a good thing, as long as the gameplay - whatever it is - is polished and engaging. I dislike QTE and I generally don't like Telltale games because of their sense of humor, which doesn't click with me, but I would like to see adventure games move away from traditional puzzles and toward more - at least to me - convincing forms of interactive storytelling (the wondrous L.A. Noire comes to mind).

I don't know. To me that's what an adventure game is and always will be until something else comes along that makes me think otherwise (nothing has yet). It's not an adventure game without those puzzles. It's something else. I liked them and never considered them ludicrous or illogical. Some were a tad far-fetched and unfair but I believe that to be a tough balance to find. I certainly don't believe the solution to those problems to be getting rid of them altogether or shifting the focus to some other game mechanic or story, in Telltale's case. Call me narrow minded and oldschool if you want that's why I enjoyed those games.

While the narrative is the single most important aspect of an adventure game, it is not much of a game without the puzzles. DPX is right about some of the puzzles and there have been some legendarily or even infamously bad ones. For me, the quality of a game can be largely based more on the quality of its puzzles. They should be solvable some means other than just trial and error. I also very much dislike puzzles that are not organic to the narrative. If they are not, they are just padding. They should also be more like problem solving than just something like a child's puzzle toy. A locked door that can only be opened by solving a slider puzzle is not organic.

I like puzzles, but they need to make sense and work within the confines of the game itself.

I remember a puzzle that involved turning peanuts into peanut butter. The solution? You put the peanuts in an empty helmet and use a magnifying glass to quickly heat up the peanuts.

Now I've never made peanut butter from scratch, but something tells me that's not how it's done.

In case you're wondering, no, that puzzle wasn't from a Sierra game. It doesn't matter, because it shows the sort of "logic" that goes into most Adventure puzzles.

I bet the reason people put up with illogical puzzles is because computer games were a new phenomenon and there wasn't much in the way of competition at the time Adventures were popular.

Today there's a ton of games all vying for every gamer's attention. Adventures have to change some of their methods, which include having puzzles that actually make sense.

I agree with you that bad puzzles can ruin a game, but I would not call a game an adventure if it did not have puzzles. Perhaps an interactive movie, but not an adventure. But then, any bad key element can ruin a game, be it a bad story, bad interface, bad puzzles or other parts. I can be more forgiving of the graphics, but there is no excuse for that to be at least close to on par with modern games, these days, even if not top tier.